unmarried fathers
Single male parents
Unmarried fathers are men who have fathered children outside of marriage.
The term appears most often in legal and policy contexts, where parental rights and responsibilities differ from those of married fathers: The law requires unmarried fathers to establish paternity to gain custody rights.
The phrase carries no inherent judgment but often surfaces in discussions of child support, visitation, and family court proceedings.
- parental rightsLegal power over children
- custodyProtective care or control
- child custodyLegal parental responsibility allocation
- sole custodyOne parent's complete authority
- joint custodyDivided parental legal responsibility
child support · deadbeat · absent · visitation · DNA test · legal rights · unwed · baby mama · baby daddy · court · responsibility · stepfather · co-parenting · bachelor · sperm donor · alimony · weekend dad · rights
- paternity lawlegitimacy, legitimation
- parentageparentage, maternity, motherhood, natural parent, parenthood